1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to telecommunication networks and more particularly, to a registration method for use in an automated notification system which responds whenever a call to an emergency service has occurred by placing an outbound notification call to a list of predetermined telephone numbers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nationwide in the United States, a non-toll telephone number 9-1-1 has been designated for calls relating to emergencies that threaten human life or property. The above-referenced application Ser. No. 09/467,641 describes a computer driven telecommunications system that automatically reacts to all emergency 9-1-1 calls that result in a automatic number identification (ANI) query to the local telephone company""s Automatic Location Identification (ALI) system. All ANI""s are examined to determine if the ANI is for a customer that has subscribed to the system and, if so the system responds through existing telephone networks by notifying addressable communication devices that a 9-1-1 call has been placed from the subscriber""s telephone.
Registration for the service may be through the local telephone company, or directly to the new system, or a combination of both. During the registration mode, a telephone customer registers their telephone number and telephone number(s) to be notified upon the occurrence of 9-1-1 call originating at the subscriber""s telephone. The fee for the service appears on the subscribers telephone bill or by direct mailing. Registration via the local telephone company requires transfer of data for each registrant to the system""s master subscriber database.
Those telephone customers that have subscribed to the service will have information transmitted to designated notify telephone numbers. Notification is comprised of placing an outgoing connection to each subscriber""s list of addressable communication devices to be notified under the terms of the system and placing a voice or text messages on the connection, informing the communication device that the subscriber has initiated a 9-1-1 call.
It is desirable to provide a system wherein a telephone customer can subscribe to a service in which the subscriber can register one or more phone numbers to be automatically notified in the event a call to an emergency service is initiated from a designated party""s telephone number (other than the subscribers telephone).
Briefly, the invention relates to a method of registering subscribers to a telephone service in a telecommunications network including an emergency call center. The registration method comprises presenting service choices to a subscriber, one of the service choices being a reverse notify service related to calls by a designated party to the emergency call center. The method requests a subscriber telephone number, notify number or numbers (one of which may be the same as the subscriber telephone number) and a designated party telephone number from the subscriber in response to the subscriber having chosen the reverse notify service.
The method obtains consent of the designated party to the reverse notify service, and registers the notify number(s) associatively with the designated party telephone number in an emergency call notification service memory.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the method determines that a telephone call within the network to a specified telephone number originated at a calling station, a telephone number of the calling station being the designated telephone number registered in the emergency call notification service memory. The notify number is used to automatically place a telephone call to a notify station, a telephone number of the notify station being the notify telephone number registered associatively with the designated party telephone in the emergency call notification service memory.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method may post a reverse notify service fee to an account associated with the subscriber telephone number. The registration may present billing options to the subscriber, a first billing option being bill to the subscriber telephone number and a second billing option being bill to the designated party telephone number. In this event, the consent of the designated party is obtained upon a condition that the second billing option is chosen by the subscriber and a reverse notify service fee is posted to an account associated with the subscriber telephone number or to an account associated with the designated party telephone number depending upon the billing option chosen by the subscriber.